CHARLIE CHAN AT THE RACE TRACK (1936)

CAST:

Warner Oland:  Charlie Chan

Keye Luke:  Lee Chan

Helen Wood:  Alice Fenton

Thomas Beck:  Bruce Rogers

Alan Dinehart:  George Chester

Gavin Muir:  Bagley

Gloria Roy:  Catherine Chester

Jonathan Hale:  Warren Fenton

George Irving:  Major [Gordon] Kent

Frank Coghlan, Jr.:  “Tip” Collins

John Rogers:  Mooney

John H. Allen:  “Streamline”  Jones

Harry Jans:  Al Meers

Robert Warwick:  Chan’s Chief (not credited)

Sam Flint:  Ship’s Captain [Captain Blake] (not credited)

Selmer Jackson:  [J.L.] Lansing (not credited)

Ivan “Dusty” Miller:  [Captain] Wade (not credited)

Ed Hart, George Magrill, David Worth, James Flavin:  Detectives (none credited)

Al Kikume:  Hawaiian Detective (not credited)

Boothe Howard:  Ship’s Doctor (not credited)

Sidney Bracey:  Waiter (not credited)

Jack Mulhall:  Second Purser (not credited)

William Wayne, Les Srechley, Billie Oakley:  Seamen (not credited)

Eddie Featherston, Charles Williams:  Reporters (neither credited)

Max Wagner:  Joe (not credited)

Harlan Tucker, Sammy Fin, Wilbur Mack, Paul Fix, Norman Willis, Jerry Jerome 

Holmes Herbert, Colin Kenny, Robert E. Homans:  Judges (none credited)

Lee Hicks, Bob Ellsworth:  Policemen (neither credited)

Lucille Miller:  Secretary (not credited)

James Eagles: Chick Patton (not credited)

Bobby Tanzell:  Gilroy (not credited)

Bruce Mitchell:  Gateman (not credited)

Clyde McAfee, Jack Green:  Pinkerton men (neither credited)

Pat O’Malley:  Track Official (not credited)

David Thursby:  Steward (not credited)

Ray Hanson:  Third Officer (not credited)

Sam Haynes:  Track Announcer (not credited)

Did George Chester marry Catherine for her or the horse, Avalanche, that Major Kent may have given them as a wedding present?

Which horse has the rail post at the Melbourne Cup?  Gunsmith. 

Who was the head track judge at the Melbourne Cup?  Holmes Herbert.

What does “Tip” Collins get for throwing the race?  What was he promised?

Bagley gives him tickets that pay $2,000 which angers Collins, who says he was promised $5,000.  Bagley says that the money has to be split too many ways for that.

What does Collins do with his cut?

He spends most of it on a ticket on the same ship that the others and the horses are on.

The gangplank to the ship says:

Matson Line

Honolulu – San Francisco [ flag ] Los Angeles – South Seas

Australia and New Zealand

What costume did Lollipop the monkey wear through most of the movie?

A sailor suit. 

 Is Denny Barton smarmy and/or just acting shifty?

What can Charlie tell from the note that Chester gets?

The letter head is cut off but the watermark is still observable plus the “e” is dirty and the “r” is raised.

What are the letters that are messed up on Fenton’s typewriter?

The “e’s” are clogged and the “r’s” are raised. 

What was Charlie bending over to pick up when Mooney, the steward, runs over him while chasing Lee?  A lucky penny. 

Who’s in Cabin 219 who wants to see (Thomas Beck)?

Chan may have used this as a trick.

What was Chan’s cabin number?

212, B-deck.

How do the cabins on this ship compare to those on the ship in Murder Cruise?

Many on this ship are nicer but Tip Collins’ is smaller—It certainly doesn’t have a closet or water closet.

The scene where Charlie is in the bar with Alice Fenton, Bruce Rogers, and Denny Barton—Can anyone name that song in the background?

“Let’s Knock Knees”(done by a young Betty Grable and Edward Everett Horton from “Gay Divorcee.”   (See MUSIC: The Lyrics)

What do Denny and Chan order to drink in the bar?

Denny has scotch and Charlie has a Sasparilla. 

Why did Charlie want the cigarette from Fenton?

So Fenton would find the fake message.

Bagley sends Streamline to get his gun and cartridges from his cabin where he’d been cleaning it.

Do you suppose George Chester accidentally shot Chan?

Do we ever find out who loaded the gun?

Did Denny really think he could out Chan Chan?!

What question did Charlie put to Denny that he put to Doctor Ainsley in Reno that was pregnant with pause?

Perhaps you . . . have answer? 

Who does Lee see at the cabin window?  Tip Collins. 

How much would it take Tip Collins to sail from Australia to California, via Hawaii, today?

Lefty (Paul Fix)  sets Tip up “somewhere” after Bagley gives him an advance of $200.

Why did most women wear jodhpurs (?) when they weren’t riding?

Maven's Mother says that back then women just did not wear jeans, only laborers and cowboys did.  Hence the Jodhpurs.

If Charlie didn’t smoke, how did he know to roll one?

Rush thinks he may have been simply observant. 

What did Charlie use to test Gallant Lad for chemicals?

The foam from the horse’s mouth to test for a powerful heart stimulant. 

What is on Lansing’s door:

Santa Juanita

Racing

J. L. Lansing

Secretary

What does Chester’s jockey do?  He backs out of the race. 

When Eddie Brill volunteers to ride for Chester, what does he offer Brill for the operation Brill needs?

What does Brill have to recommend him?   He won the same race two years.

How does Charlie trick his guard?

Charlie borrows the guards’ “cigarette makings” to use the paper as a blow pipe to blow the loose tobacco into the guards face. 

How do Charlie and Lee escape?  By the kitchen window. 

How does Lee get Charlie onto the track?

Lee is in disquise as a laundry boy with Charlie hiding in back with a mess of firecrackers. 

What are the fireworks for? 

As a diversion so Charlie can change Avalanche and Gallant Lad back as they should be. 

BONUS QUESTION:  Did Charlie ever knock out anybody else in the Chan movies?

Bonus Question:  Did the office that Charlie’s boss use look familiar?

It was used in at least one other Chan movie—Murder Cruise?

Bonus Question:  Is there another Chan with a link to a Astaire/Rogers movie?

“Eran Trace” ~ The Spanish version of “Charlie Chan Carries On”—Raul Roulien (Max Michen) was also in Flying Down To Rio. 

Bonus Question:  How many movies is Charlie on board a ship without being seasick?!  (Not to mention airsick!)

Shanghai, Race Track, Honolulu—He was seasick in Broadway! 

Bonus Question:  What other movie does Charlie use the trick that he used on Denny Barton:  When he asked if Charlie knows who did it, he asked Denny, “Perhaps you . . . know answer?”

To Dr. Ainsley at the bar in CC in Reno.

Bonus Question:  Can you name the policeman in white in Charlie’s office at the beginning of the movie?  How many (and which) Chan movies has he done?

Al Kikume was in at least 4:  Race Track, Olympics, Honolulu, and Reno.

Bonus Question:  Charlie recognized his sons’ backsides from paddling them as children in which movies?

Paris (?), Race Track, Panama.

Bonus Question:  Which Chan movies has one of Charlie’s sons ending up working on board?

Lee hires on legally as a cabin boy and Jimmy is a stowaway who is put to work in the shoe-shine shop.  What about Panama?

Bonus Question:  Who did the bad guy, Paul Fix, go on to be? 

Marshall Micah Torrance to Chuck Connors’ “The Rifleman.”

MURDER RATE: 

Major Gordon Kent by George Chester,

Tip Collins by Lefty (Paul Fix).